Americas

  
A woman casts her vote at a polling station during the Constituent Assembly election in Caracas on July 30. Journalists covering the vote and unrest in Venezuela have been arbitrarily detained, attacked, and threatened. (Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

Journalists detained, attacked, and threatened amid unrest in Venezuela

New York, July 31, 2017–Venezuelan officials should stop harassing journalists and censoring media outlets amid unrest and violent protests in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Journalists covering yesterday’s vote to elect representatives for a constituent assembly to reform the Venezuelan constitution were arbitrarily detained, attacked, and threatened.

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Journalists in Morelia, Michoacan state, demand justice for killed and missing colleagues, including Salvador Adame Pardo. Death threats were sent to an editorial director of a website in the state in July. (AFP/Enrique Castro)

Mexican journalist threatened in Michoacán state

Mexico City, July 26, 2017–Mexican authorities must undertake a swift and credible investigation into death threats sent to José Maldonado and ensure the journalist’s safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Banners threatening two Quintana Roo journalists were left in Cancún. Violence against journalists has risen in the Mexican state. (Noticias Pedro Canché)

Journalists receive death threats in Mexican state of Quintana Roo

New York, July 21, 2017–Authorities in the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo must undertake a swift and credible investigation into threats against two journalists and ensure their safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 19, banners containing threatening messages, known as “narcomantas,” were left in two locations in Cancún, according to…

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A portrait of Javier Valdez at a Mexico City event to pay tribute to the investigative journalist, who was murdered in May. (AFP/Bernardo Montoya)

Memory of Mexico’s investigative reporter Javier Valdez will live on through his work

Two months have passed since Javier Valdez Cárdenas, the Mexican investigative reporter and recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, was murdered. The grief over his killing in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, has left many looking for answers as to why the investigation into his murder appears to have yielded few results so…

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Reality Winner, center, an intelligence contractor charged with leaking classified National Security Agency material, is shown in a courtroom sketch at a hearing in Augusta, Georgia, on June 8, 2017. A group of Senate Republicans claim that leaks to the media under the Trump Administration are harming national security. (Reuters/Richard Miller)

US Senate report on leaks and national security is deeply flawed

Last week, Republicans on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs released a report on leaks to the media. The report, which was led by Chairman Ron Johnson, asserts that “an avalanche” of leaks under the Trump Administration is harming national security. It lists at least 125 news articles and their bylines -…

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Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, center, speaks to journalists in Washington, D.C. on June 27. He released a report claiming that media leaks under the Trump Administration harm U.S. national security. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

Republicans on Senate committee assert media leaks harm US national security

New York, July 6, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a report released today by a group of Senate Republicans arguing that “an avalanche” of media leaks under the Trump Administration is harming national security. The report, which lists at least 125 news articles that allegedly harmed national security and their bylines, was…

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Guatemalans remember those killed in the country's 36-year civil conflict in Guatemala City, February 25, 2016. (Reuters/Josue Decavele)

Guatemalan journalist faces threats, intimidation

New York, June 30, 2017–Guatemalan authorities should thoroughly investigate the threats against journalist Marielos Monzón, an investigative reporter and contributor to the newspaper Prensa Libre, and should ensure her safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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In this file photo, municipal police block a street in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico, January 17, 2017. (Reuters/Victor Ruiz Garcia)

Mexican journalist says he was attacked, threatened by police

Mexico City, June 29, 2017–Mexican authorities should swiftly and credibly investigate the alleged assault of journalist Rubén Pat, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Pat, the co-founder of the online news resource Semanario Playa News, told CPJ that police beat him, detained him overnight, and threatened him for his reporting.

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Congressman Greg Gianforte appears in court to face a charge of misdemeanor assault over an attack on Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs in Montana in June. (Reuters/Tommy Martino)

CPJ to use $50,000 Gianforte donated as part of body slam settlement to track other assaults on press

When the news came that Greg Gianforte was making a $50,000 donation to the Committee to Protect Journalists it was 10 p.m. on the East Coast, but 8:30 a.m. in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s Disney-like capital city, where members of our CPJ team were meeting officials to discuss that country’s punitive press laws.

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Guatemalan TV journalist survives gunshot to head

Two unidentified gunmen on June 14, 2017, shot Carlos Danilo Rodríguez Ixtecox, the owner and director of the local TV channel Multiviral Canal 19, in a small grocery store his family owns in Puerto Barrios, on Guatemala’s Caribbean coast.

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